Tingly mouth ..... food allergy?

[Stinky The Clown]

We had for supper:

Shell on shrimp smoked with cherry wood. The shrimp were seasoned with Old Bay.

Totally naked baked sweet potatoes.

Tossed salad with mixed greens, slivered almonds, dried cherries, sliced onion, and clementine wedges. It had a commercial cherry vinaigrette we have used many times.

A very fruit forward French Sauvignon.




What in that menu could account for the tingly, almost numbed mouth I got. Swirling the wine caused the sensation to spread, but that could have been the wine, or just as easily, the tingly agent being spread by the wine.

Any guesses? 15 minutes after dinner the sensation was gone.

[Blues Heron]

1. Could it be the celery seed in the Old Bay?

[elleng]

2. Something like this?

Mango peel contains urushiol, the chemical in poison ivy and poison sumac that can cause urushiol-induced contact dermatitis in susceptible people.<28> Cross-reactions between mango contact allergens and urushiol have been observed.<29> Those with a history of poison ivy or poison oak may be most at risk for such an allergic reaction.<30> Urushiol is also present in mango leaves and vines. During mango's primary season, it is the most common source of plant dermatitis in Hawaii.<31>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango

[Warpy]

3. My advice would be to approach your next shrimp or nuts cautiously

If you feel any swelling at all, get to an emergency room. If this is the beginning of a food allergy, it can be a serious one.

Then again, maybe somebody had hidden a bag of coke in part of your food and it leaked during transit. 15 minutes is about right for cocaine.

Who knows?

Just be aware that you can be allergic to anything at any time.

[madmax]

15. That happened to me only once

I've eaten shrimp all my life without a problem. Then one day - anaphylactic shock. I broke out in hives, tingling in the mouth, and face turned red.Went straight to the ER. We ate late and this was in full rage at around 11 a.m. I have an Epipen but, have never needed it. This was about 2 years ago.

[susanna]

17. I had a similar situation.

But from Big Pharma. I'd NEVER been allergic to penicillin in all my (then) 35 years, but one day, on a routine course of it for a nasty strep infection - I broke out in hives and my blood pressure plummeted. No warning whatsoever. Scared me to death. I now wear the Medi-Bracelet with "Penicillin Allergy." Never even saw it coming. :(

[Paper Roses]

4. I have a bunch of strange allergies, some are getting more severe

as I age. Testing years ago found things that I didn't know I was allergic to. The list is long. I never liked any fish so I never thought about being allergic to it. After a few bouts with other allergies, I went through the huge number of skin prick tests, Shellfish and Soy were the big winners. There were other things too but those were the biggest allergens in the food department. You could also be having a reaction to the sulfite's in wine. I know they bother me. One glass of wine and my nose stuffs so that I can hardly breathe. My daughter cannot eat walnuts because her throat gets itchy and feels like it is closing up. I have tried to have her see an allergist but she won't.

As a safety measure, if you have insurance, I'd tell your Doctor about this and any other questionable things that may be happening and see if he would refer you to an allergist. You might be very glad you went.

After another recent bout with a medicine to cure a mild infection, I ended up in the Emergency Room after a severe reaction to the Sulfa drug prescribed for me. Another thing on my list of allergies I never knew about. I guess I never had a sulfa drug before.

I am on Medicare with a lousy supplement or I'd go again for the tests. So many things can change or develop as you get older.

[kestrel91316]

16. I had a TERRIBLE allergic reaction to a sulfa drug 20 or so years ago

that put me in the hospital. For years I couldn't figure out HOW I could be allergic to somethign I had no prior exposure to.

And then I remembered that one of my many UTI's in college was treated briefly with Bactrim.

http://www.drugs.com/bactrim.html

[Warpy]

18. You can be allergic to something the first time you're exposed to it

and you can be allergic to something you've had dozens of times in the past.

One of my drug allergies popped up after I'd been taking the stuff for two months with no problem. It was a real bear to track down, eliminating one drug a day until I took my handful of pills and didn't break out in hives. Hives between your fingers and toes are no fun, thank goodness for benadryl and extra prednisone.

I had sulfa drugs two or three times a year when I was a kid. Bactrim would probably send me into anaphylaxis now.

[yellerpup]

5. A friend of ours had sweet & sour shrimp at his favorite local restaurant.

He had enjoyed this dish for over 50 years, and on the way home his mouth and tongue tissue began to swell. He soon started having trouble breathing and barely made it to the hospital (he was in the middle of NYC and not far from help, thank goodness). He developed an allergy just like that! Now, anything he ingests with shrimp could kill him very quickly. Be careful!

[shireen]

6. i'm allergic to raw 'fruity' veges, raw root veges, and some fruit

Eating raw peppers and carrots irritates my mouth with a burning sensation. Biting into an apple sometimes causes my lips to swell and itch. Raw nuts like almonds and pecans also sets off a reaction. But when the veges or fruit are cooked, or the nuts roasted, i'm fine. I think cooking destroys the proteins causing the allergy.

More info:
http://www.usnews.com/health/articles/2007/12/11/a-pesky-allergy-to-fruit-and-vegetables.html
http://www.calgaryallergy.ca/Articles/English/Oral_Food_Allergy.htm

[Tesha]

7. Tingly ?

really good bet an allergy caused it!

Do you have any leftovers you could experiment with? I had that experience once when I had multiple kinds of shellfish at one time - and since then nothing.
I always thought it was probably how the shrimp/crab/lobster was cooked and or spiced.

I don't know... it's a mystery.

[The empressof all]

8. Could be a reaction to the Sulfates in the wine

I once broke out in a severe rash after drinking a bottle. My doctor suspected the sulfates and advised me to be cautious with wine. For some reason I believe white wines are higher in sulfates than the reds but I also just may have made that up because I can't imagine life without red wine. This happened years ago and obviously I'm still here and uncorking the weekly bottle.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Thank you all for your thoughts ......

We think it was that particular wine. It was a really great tasting wine, but by the second night of being opened had already gone round the bend. We've never seen a white turn so fast. We use a proper vacuvin keep the opened whites in the fridge. Most last at least four or five days, if not a week - unless we drink them faster.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Update .....

I had a doc appointment today. Routine stuff. I asked her about this. She said it *could* be an allergy, but she doesn't think so. More likely, she said, was a batch of shrimp particularly high in iodine. Technically an allergy, but not to shrimp, per se.m

[Lars39]

11. Tingly tongue can also be a symptom of B12 deficiency.

Been tested lately?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I have no idea what I've been tested for.

:)

I go. They take a gallon of blood. They send me a four page report with lots of numbers and strange words on it. My doc smiles and tells me I'm healthy.

The B12 deficiency. Would that be a chronic tingling or this anomalous tingling I had?

[Lars39]

13. I think maybe just an occasional tingle.

:)

[pscot]

14. Oneof the symptoms of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning

is tingling and numbness in the lips tongue and face. If you're subject to gout attacks, don't eat shrimp. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.